There are a few companies around the world that could be placed in the same cup as Yamaha. Not only is it a global household name, but it’s also one of the most recognizable names to come from Japan. Pianos and motorcycles are likely the first things you’ll associate it with, but Yamaha is involved in more industries than most realize. Yamaha, the piano company, is the world’s largest manufacturer of musical instruments, not just pianos! It also makes professional audio equipment, music production equipment, golfing equipment, semiconductors, robotics machinery, and even automotive interior parts thanks to its woodworking knowhow from pianos. As for Yamaha the motorcycle company, it also manufactures snowmobiles, ATVs, PWCs, boats, industrial robots and machinery, unmanned aircraft, swimming pools, and automobile engines. I was aware of its instruments, consumer audio products, and boat engines, but golfing clubs, robotics, snowmobiles... boats?! It’s like dozing off during a quiet part of a lecture and the next moment you wake up to a board covered in incomprehensible equations or formulas. Before trying to take on the present, I naturally wondered how we got from pianos to motorcycles in the first place
Disclaimer: The YH-5000SE was provided to me free of charge solely for the purpose of reviewing it. This The Full Story article was independently conceived and executed under my own creative direction as a passion project over the course of 9 months. I have not, am not, and will not receive any monetary compensation from Yamaha Corporation Co., Ltd. or its affiliates, and I have no affiliation with the aforementioned. There are no affiliate links associated with this review. The opinions expressed herein are my own, based on my personal experience and independent research, and they are freely expressed as such. My intention is for this article to serve as an educational resource for readers. While I strive for accuracy, please note that, as a human, I am prone to error.
I thank Yamaha for its patience and for organizing the shipment. If it weren’t for Yamaha, this article would’ve never happened!
If you want to read the PDF "Yamaha YH-5000SE: The Full Story" article, feel free to download it. You can also preview the cover I made for it on our Head-Fi thread. |
History
Torakusu Yamaha was born to Takanosuke Yamaha, an astronomer of Kishū Domain. The Reddit community was quick to interpret Takanosuke as a samurai astronomer, calling it the most badass title they’ve heard and requesting a Netflix series ASAP. There’s never a dull moment with that bunch! It made for a good laugh, I’ll give them credit for that, but it’s far from the truth. Takanosuke was more of an intellectual than a fierce warrior depicted in Hollywood. Anyhow, Torakusu had access to a rich library of books from his father, a good portion of them being astronomy books. This planted a seed of Torakusu’s interest in Western science and technology. Not long after, the Westernization of Japan arrived with the Meiji Restoration. The fall of the Edo government was hard on the Yamaha family, but Torakusu saw hope in the arrival of imperialistic rule. Three years later, in 1871, he left for Osaka. As watches started gaining popularity in his city, Torakusu decided to pursue watchmaking under the mentorship of an English engineer, so he traveled 750 kilometers to Nagasaki. However, that didn’t keep him occupied for long, as he mastered the craft in a matter of two years. Having completed his studies, Torakusu returned to Osaka, where he spent three years repairing medical appliances at a shop called Kawachi-ya. Though what followed varies from source to source, it’s documented that he was sent to Hamamatsu to repair medical appliances at its local hospital, with the earliest reported date being 1883, when Torakusu was 32 years old. Still keen on establishing himself at the age of 35, he moved to Hamamatsu and opened a medical equipment repair shop. During that time, Hamamatsu was still a small town, and Torakusu couldn’t make a living solely from his repair business, so he served as a local handyman. More notably, at least for his financial security, was being a rickshaw puller for the director of the Hamamatsu Hospital. One day, Torakusu was invited by the local primary school to fix its precious Mason & Hamlin reed organ which had broken when being imported from Europe. Torakusu quickly identified the problem and started studying the complex instrument. He made the replacement springs himself and returned the instrument to its working condition. Whilst repairing it, he sketched out every part and corner of the instrument, hoping to build such an instrument by himself. Thankfully for Torakusu, the director of the hospital, Toyasaku Fukushima, granted him a loan for funding a one-room workshop that operated under the name “Yamaha Fūkin Saizōjo” [Yamaha Organ Factory]. In 1887, Torakusu and Kawai Kisaburō—a colleague from his repair shop—manufactured the first Japanese-made organ. It wasn’t exactly a finished product, but rather a prototype that served as a base for feedback—feedback that would help them create the finalized version of the instrument. Well, after a negative reception from the primary school, the two set out on a long journey to get feedback from the freshly established Tokyo Academy of Music. To give you a better idea of just how determined they were: they crossed the mountains of Hakone and traveled a distance of 250 kilometers on foot, all whilst carrying their organ with a pole over their shoulders! They were welcomed by Isawa Shūji, the president of the Tokyo Academy of Music, who saw great potential in domestically sourcing the instrument for music schools. Dishearteningly, Isawa harshly criticized the tuning of Torakusu’s organ, calling it useless. Torakusu was approaching his 40s and still hadn’t established himself, so hearing those words couldn’t have been easy on him. But it wasn’t all as grim as I made it seem, Isawa admired and complimented the wood craftsmanship of the instrument, and instead of shutting the door on Torakusu, he offered him to attend music lessons at the academy. Torakusu copied the organ he was repairing with immaculate precision, but without any knowledge about musical temperament, he was unable to replicate the most important part of the instrument. After a month of attending lectures at the academy, he returned to Hamamatsu in November with the ambition of applying his newly gained knowledge. Within two months, Torakusu and his Kisaburō completed their second organ and brought it back to Isawa. A huge weight dropped from their shoulders after Isawa expressed how impressive their tonally accurate instrument was, so much so that he outright said it could replace the imported organs. Yamaha now had the green light from the master himself, and Isawa even assisted him in establishing a distribution network. This time, Torakusu returned to Hamamatsu with orders waiting to be fulfilled. He started by gathering a group of 10 loyal employees, and in the same year, the company grew to 50 employees. By the following year, 1889, it had already reached 100 employees, and at that point, the company was relocated to the then-dormant Hōonji Temple, where it remained seated for the next 30 years. Some reports claim that a rival, who also happened to own stock in Yamaha’s company, plotted against him and caused the business to fall apart. Interestingly, these sources claim that only Torakusu and Kisaburō remained, the same team of two that carried their jointly created organs to Tokyo on foot. If true, the claim that the company continued doing well, selling over 250 organs a year, becomes that much more intriguing. This was in large thanks to Torakusu’s close relationship with Isawa, a figure who held multiple high-ranking positions as a government official. A person with great power, to say the least. During the following years, the company won a handful of exhibition awards and produced north of 700 organs per year. In 1893, it received its first international order, exporting 78 organs to Southeast Asia. However, the most important date in Yamaha’s history is 12 October 1897, when Torakusu founded Nippon Gakki Seizō K.K. [Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd]. Unfortunately, this date is frequently wrongly marked as 1887, i.e. the founding year of his first organ business venture. This was the beginning of a new era for Yamaha, it signified a shift from being an organ-only manufacturer to becoming a musical instrument manufacturer. Torakusu was the president of the company, and Kawai Kisaburō was appointed as his key manager. At the time, imported American pianos were unjustifiably expensive. According to Professor Margaret Mehl, Yamaha was selling its organs to the Hamamatsu primary school for just 45 yen, whereas American pianos cost 1000 yen. Multiple houses could be built for such a sum of money! Isawa once again jumped to the rescue and arranged for the Ministry of Education to sponsor Torakusu for a five-month-long travel to America. In 1899, Torakusu visited more than 100 locations across the United States, including piano and organ manufacturing facilities, dealerships, and manufacturers of machinery and tooling equipment used for their production. Having completed his mission of gathering the knowledge and the know-how of piano manufacturing, Torakusu returned to Japan with production machinery, tools, as well as some American pianos and organs. He was ready to take on the task of creating Japan’s first domestically manufactured piano, and thus Japan’s first upright piano was born in 1890. The rest is history. Two years later Nippon Gakki manufactured its first grand piano, and in the same year, Torakusu was awarded the Medal of Honor with Green Ribbon. He was also appointed as the director of Hamamatsu Railway. In 1911, he was elected to the Hamamatsu City Council and appointed Vice Chairman. Torakusu Yamaha died on August 8, 1916, and was followed by Kawai Kisaburō just two months later. There was an unmistakable bond and loyalty between them, and it’s quite touching how Kisaburō never left his side. A detail I found particularly heartwarming is that he adopted Yamaha’s first son, Masao (1889). As for Torakusu’s life story, it can be said that he left as an accomplished man. From an early age, he demonstrated a strong ambition and interest in business. Although he was unsuccessful in pushing through the market as a watchmaker, and couldn’t make a living as a medical equipment repair technician due to the then-small market, he continued seeking success in unknown territories. Moreover, it was his drive and will to learn that brought him to success. The man unafraid of learning opens the door to infinite growth. No matter which industry Yamaha entered, he gave it his all to learn it through and through—the same spirit that remains in the company to this day.
Since Torakusu’s return from America, the company never really stopped growing. It pushed through WWI by manufacturing and exporting harmonicas, which it had begun manufacturing just before the war broke out. After the war ended, Nippon Gakki was doing well for the first three years, but by 1926, it was on the brink of bankruptcy. A series of misfortunate events were to blame, with the biggest losses caused by natural disasters that destroyed multiple factory plants. In 1927, board members voted for Kaichi Kawakami to take the presidency. He accepted and eventually brought the company back to its feet, and even created a research department to improve its products. Then WWII broke out, and Nippon Gakki was forced into manufacturing components for airplanes. Mainly propellers, per most sources. Unfortunately, the company was left with only one manufacturing facility, as the rest of them were either destroyed by bombing or were seized. However, what it gained was a team of skilled engineers who had experience with metalworking and machining. It’s said that by 1947 Nippon Gakki was fully capable of in-house production of metal frames for pianos. The company continued growing under Kawakami’s leadership. In 1950, Genichi Kawakami took on the presidential seat from his father. Three years into his presidency, he recognized the potential in motorcycles, as there was an increasing demand for cheap means of transport. Much like Torakusu Yamaha, Genichi embarked on a journey to America with hopes of acquiring the industry know-how needed to make a good product and start domestic production. Upon his return in 1953, he gave out a confidential order to start the development of a motorcycle engine. The following year, the government returned the previously seized metalworking factory to Nippon Gakki. At this point, all the stars had aligned: the company was armed with trained labor power, it gained back access to its metalworking factory, and there was a market demand for motorcycles. Wood supply was unstable, which meant the company couldn’t fully rely on its music instrument manufacturing business. If I had to guess what was going through Genichi’s head, I would say that he didn’t want to risk the company facing the same crisis that it did when his father became president. He was looking for a promising industry that could secure the future of the company. Confident in his strategy, he went all in on the idea of manufacturing the company’s first motorcycle, the YA-1. Regardless of how ambitious this plan was, it stood no comparison to Genichi’s expectation of finishing the model within one year. Fortunately, the team had access to select a German motorcycle patent-free as part of the war reparations. The YA-1 was designed after the DKW RT125 and was completed just eight months after selecting the German base model. The team was able to accomplish this because it didn’t have to design the motorcycle from scratch, with most of its efforts going toward the development of the engine. A few more things were altered on it, and 125 units were ready by the end of 1954. In February 1955, the YA-1 was released to the Japanese market. It wasn’t an immediate hit, but it picked up the pace within a few months. Nippon Gakki already having a team of 150 trained people for the production of motorcycles and engines, opening a new factory for the manufacturing of motorcycles, and the sudden success of the YA-1, all influenced the founding of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. in July 1955. Genichi Kawakami was appointed as the president of the company, but he also retained his position as the president of Nippon Gakki. At first, the two companies shared a close relationship and were also publicly seen as one company, but not much time passed until Yamaha Motor Company reached the point of operating as a separate, independent company. Genichi was personally involved in the manufacturing of the YA-1, so this was the next natural step for him.
To cut the story short, everything worked out just as he envisioned it. I wish there was a single source I could direct you to fully grasp all that followed in the coming decades, but there is none. Both companies went on to experience exponential growth and aggressive diversification. At large, this can be attributed to Genichi’s approach and philosophy. When I sat down and thought about it, Genichi, his father Kaichi, and Torakusu Yamaha, all shared the common belief that metal casting is the foundation of the company. It’s as if this philosophy was passed down from one man to the next. What’s more, all three of these figures reinforced this belief by advancing technology—particularly in casting methods—and prioritizing research. Torakusu did so by traveling to America to gather knowledge firsthand, Kaichi by establishing a research department, and Genichi by founding a dedicated research facility. They were businessmen, engineers of the manufacturing process. Genichi Kawakami famously said, “Treat the factory floor like your own living room.” Yamaha’s manufacturing factories were globally admired for how advanced they were. In 1974, the equivalent of today’s ¥5.6B was invested into building a V-process casting plant, making Nippon Gakki one of the only piano manufacturers in the world with its own casting factory. This allowed it to start the mass production of upright pianos, delivering 10,000 pianos a month.
In October 1987, 100 years after Torakusu Yamaha founded his first organ manufacturing company, Nippon Gakki changed its name to Yamaha Corporation Co., Ltd. Hopefully, that answers how we ended up with two Yamahas.
Design
As much as I drooled over online images, nothing could’ve prepared me for how these look in person. I would say the pictures don’t do them justice, only if it weren’t for the already-stunning pictures. The YH-5000SE sits across from me; I’m staring into it, but the words aren’t forming at my fingertips. It’s like being handed a blank sheet of paper after contemplating a great art piece at a gallery. You could write out a full page describing your emotions, visual dissection of the piece, as well as your interpretation, but it wouldn’t serve as a faithful translation of the interaction between you and the art piece. My sheet is still blank, but there is one thought that keeps cycling through my mind: engineering. No matter which part I look at, I can’t help but notice that form follows function; each part has a clear purpose. It wouldn’t surprise me if Yamaha gave its engineers carte blanche to develop the YH-5000SE, and left the finishing touches to the designers. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete masterclass in headphone design. It may very well feature the most intricate design to have graced the headphone industry. Some have already pointed to Sennheiser’s HD800, calling it the source of inspiration for the YH-5000SE. I decided to do a little digging to find how much truth there is to this claim. It turns out the MDR-F1 was introduced by Sony more than a decade before the HD800’s release. Unfortunately, it’s a largely forgotten headphone. The better known, but still far from well-known models that are often brought to the discussion of HD800’s design are Sony’s 2004 MDR-SA5000 and Q010-MDR1, with the latter released as a flagship model under Sony’s short-lived luxury sub-brand Qualia. What these three headphones have in common with the YH-5000SE is the driver enclosure design. They all follow the same concept of a porous open enclosure, but that’s where their similarities end. Each company has its unique approach to this concept.
The YH-5000SE doesn’t try to imitate or adapt; it simply is. So authentically itself that no headphone comparison feels fair. The Millennium Falcon or the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak—designs so iconic they transcend their categories—that’s the caliber we’re talking about. Perhaps YH-5000SE’s true sibling is the Royal Oak ref. 26522CE. The two share more similarities than meets the eye, but that’s a story for another time. A monochrome palette demands perfection. When deprived of color, a design must stand on the strength of its form, balance, and interplay of light and shadow. The YH-5000SE embraces this discipline whether through negative space to define form or surface design to accentuate shapes. Take the ear-cups, where shapes are as pronounced as they get. The skeleton frame steals the spotlight, but if the attention is shifted to the ear-cups as a whole, it can be noticed that the shape of a circle is everywhere: the driver unit, the screws, and even the frame. It also extends to the headband slider, the stadium-shaped sliding element, the cylindrical connector housing, and the semicircular yoke. While it’s nothing new to see circular ear-cups, yokes, and connector housings, Yamaha brought a new dimension to them.
How so, you ask? It comes down to the sublime combination of two principles: motion and chiaroscuro. And let me stop right here to say that this headphone sets a new standard for the depth that can be achieved in headphone design. I’ve spent more time visually analyzing headphones than the average audiophile, the extent of light manipulation on display in YH-5000SE’s design is done at a level unlike anything I’ve seen in this field. It’s the sort of execution to be admired for its quality. Having done just that, I believe I figured it out, so here’s my best attempt at verbalizing it. All motion stems from the small faceplate with Yamaha’s tuning fork logo. We can call this part the epicenter of motion. The trajectory of energy is as follows: a wave is transferred to form a ring around the center, it subsides before forming a second ring which is weaker in altitude, and finally, the energy is carried onto the frame. The six ends of the tuning fork logo shoot out a “beam” through the rings, but its energy is conserved in six screws at each corresponding end. It’s then released, but due to its strength, the mass collapses. Instead of continuing from the beam’s points, the mass drains into a second set of screws. The collapse transfers residual energy outward, forming walls that are offset from the original beams. These walls flow over and form the skeleton frame. It’s as if the energy’s force was redirected into a stable, reinforced framework. In terms of surface design, there’s also a lot going on. Starting from the center, Yamaha’s logo and its surrounding ring are raised and both feature a polished finish, placing them at the top of the design’s hierarchy. The first outer ring features a tall, steep wall on the inside, while the second one has a smoother, more dispersed inner wall. This reminds me of the water ripple effect; as the ripple spreads, each subsequent wave has a shorter crest and shallower trough. Next up, the screws. Unlike other elements, the first set of screws are left exposed in a raw metal finish. This marks a distinct separation between the driver unit element and the ear-cup frame. The rest of the screws are stealthier thanks to a black polished finish. Even with all these elements, the design wasn’t dynamic enough for Yamaha. To complete the desired look, deep chamfer edge profiles were used on the inner side of the skeleton frame. In my opinion, it’s this that brings the ear-cups to life. There’s such a stark contrast between the frame and the mesh beneath, it makes it appear like the headphone’s synthetic flesh is exposed under its exoskeleton. A scene straight out of a Sci-Fi movie!
The headband structure flips the direction around, instead of flowing away from the center, it flows toward it. A standard headband is used, so it’s nothing more than a bent strip of metal. The center-piece [the critical part holding together the yoke, headband, and height-adjustment system] follows the curvature of the headband and bends inward. Together with its length, the fact that it’s only slightly wider than the headband gives it a slim figure. Granted, it has a belly on the inside, but don’t we all enjoy a little belly? Whereas the ear-cups were all about exercising shape, form, and light play, this part has a stronger focus on curvature and fluidity. A beautiful example of this is when it’s viewed from the rear. From here, we can see a movement resembling a brush stroke. At the bottom of this stroke is a cap cover for the yoke joint. Aside from vertically bending inward, at the joint, the center-piece gently bends outward horizontally, at an inward vertical angle. The slider showcases the same quality, though more subtly. The external part smoothly bulges out, like a button, while the inner part contrasts it with a flat face. The same language is spoken through the sliding element; the outer side has a deep bevel, while the inner side is just a cutout in the already-curved center-piece. Up until this point, everything was heading in the same direction... and then there’s the flat, sharply cut-off bottom of the center-piece. Seems completely out of place, right? I wouldn’t blame you if you think that, but believe it or not, there is a good reason for the way it looks. Before I get to that, let’s cover the last remaining part of the headband structure. The yoke. Sandwiched between the ear-cups and the center-piece, it has a special transitional power to bridge their designs. We established that the movement flows away from the center on the ear-cups, and toward the center on the headband structure, and that would make for a logical conclusion that the yoke follows one direction or the other. But what if I told you that it simultaneously flows toward and away from the center? Meet hyperbolic paraboloid, where that’s possible. Its implementation here is a perfect expression of tension, but also fusion. For instance, the way the yoke extends past the two pivot points is a detail that will go unnoticed by many, but it’s yet another element that shows how much thought has been put into each part.
The HP-1 is the main source of inspiration for the YH-5000SE, and Yamaha made that crystal-clear. However, as far as design is concerned, there isn’t much that got carried over. Apart from its trademark headband and headstrap, nothing else was recycled. Inspired by? Yes. Directly reused? No. It’sanother headphone from the company’s vintage lineup that significantly influenced the design. Renowned as the holy grail among planar-magnetic enthusiast circles, the YH-5M was a pair of semi-open orthodynamic earphones... worn over the head. It was too ahead of its time. It even came with detachable cables! It would be indistinguishable from other tools in a dental clinic. YH-5000SE’s cable connector and the sharp angle of the ear-cups both come from the YH-5M. The reason its name isn’t as closely attached to the YH-5000SE as HP-1 is that it was only displayed next to it during early exhibitions. After YH-5000SE’s official launch, it wasn’t mentioned in the marketing material. Honestly, I find it disappointing that the media hasn’t caught on this detail. At the very least, I hope I shined enough light on it and am looking forward to seeing it getting the deserved credit moving forward.
Branding and labeling are kept to the bare minimum—perhaps too minimal. The tuning fork logo on the ear-cups easily gets lost in the darkness of the headphones. The surrounding ring around it is the only visible text from the side profile, and it doesn’t say Yamaha. Instead, it says “Orthodynamic est. 1978” at the top, and “Made in Japan” at the bottom. Both are sans-serif, all caps, printed in white. Technically, there’s some text on the cable connector at the rear, but it’s printed vertically. It’s even less visible because it’s just a shade lighter than the matte black connector housing. Orthodynamic is repeated, and right below it, the model name is negatively printed against a matching shade rectangle. There are no left or right text labels, only “A” in braille on the left side. And with that, all that remains is to flip the headphones to the top. Guess what’s there? Another orthodynamic text label! It has the same characteristics as the one on the driver unit ring, but here it says orthodynamic headphone and the line below it states the model followed by a slash and the serial number [“serial no. XXXX”]. Personally, I would’ve preferred to see the iconic tuning fork symbol accompanied by Yamaha’s bold logotype—exactly as it was on the HP-1. I’m pretty sure I’m speaking in the name of all of us hardcore Yamaha enthusiasts! It makes me chuckle seeing “Orthodynamic” on 3/3 places with text. But, hey, I understand what they were aiming for.
The YH-5000SE achieves so much with so little. The [nearly] all-black color scheme can be a point of criticism, with it being lazy and plain in some people’s eyes. However, this headphone is the polar opposite of that. It takes a while to wrap your head around its design, but once you reach that point, you understand why the lack of color is so fascinating. Lazy... If anything, it’s a design’s ultimate test, and rest assured that it creates plenty of challenges that designers must overcome. A monochrome design is as unmerciful at revealing imperfections as a mirror finish is. This is a design’s most vulnerable state, its naked state. Thankfully, the YH-5000SE looks mighty good without clothes.
This is by far the deepest design dissection I’ve ever written. Why do you think that is? There’s a never-ending number of things to admire. Small details hiding in plain sight: how seamlessly the tuning fork symbol is incorporated into the design, the way all edges are smoothened out to create fluidity, how the shine of the mesh adds depth to the ear-cups, the Torx screws which conveniently resemble the Yamaha star, the absence of exposed screws in the entire headband structure, or even the 15˚ angle of the ear-cups which sets the overall direction. No matter how many elements there are, each one is an extension of the other, and together, they form a unified, continuous whole. My only gripe about the design would have to be the yellow accent piece on the connector housing. There was no yellow on the HP-1, and the color doesn’t have anything to do with Yamaha Corporation either. Why it was chosen, I do not know. A raw metal finish, like the one seen on the screws, would’ve been much more fitting. If it were up to me, I would’ve used a white ceramic coating, like the one seen on performance automotive exhausts, say Pagani Huayra R. Another viable option would be an enamel coating, also in white. Any of these three would not only elevate the design but complete it. When already 99% of the design is monochrome, why not fully commit to this decision with that last remaining percent?
Build Quality
Magnesium is at the center of discussion, and effortlessly so. But with a $5000 price tag attached, scrutiny is inevitable. Material selection alone does little to highlight the level of craftsmanship involved in making the YH-5000SE. Scattered across publications and interviews, fragments of its story exist, though most remain locked behind language barriers. If not for
@doctorK53, who selflessly gifted our community word-for-word translations, we might never have understood the true weight of the “Made in Japan” label.
There’s no wood to be found, yet these are manufactured and assembled under the same roof that Yamaha’s flagship grand pianos are. Meeting such uncompromising quality and production demands required nothing less than the most skilled artisans, making the Kakegawa factory not just the best option, but the only one. Magnesium alloy parts are injection molded, emerging as nothing more than cold, unyielding pieces of metal. It’s through the hands of takumi that life is breathed into them. The fine curvature of the skeleton frame? The equilibrium of direction in the yoke? All painstakingly sculpted by hand. There are no shortcuts, no compromises, no concessions to efficiency—only devotion to an ideal. In this case, that ideal is weight reduction. Lifting the YH-5000SE for the first time was... confusing. How can a headphone of this size be so light?! It takes some time to get used to the weight, or better said, lack thereof.
Other parts incorporate materials like stainless steel, aluminum, and plastic. The headband is made of stainless steel, the driver capsule and the sliders are made of aluminum, while the center-piece, the baffle, and the cable connector housing are plastic. It’s safe to assume that the polished accents are also aluminum, just with a different surface treatment. The real feat, however, is how seamlessly these materials blend together. Three materials! At a glance, and even to the touch, differentiating the magnesium frame from the aluminum driver capsule is impossible. The plastic components, too, integrate flawlessly, their distinct surface pattern only discernible upon close inspection. Touching the YH-5000SE is an experience in itself. The surface, strangely, feels like paper, an unexpected but fascinating sensory trick. What sorcery of texture engineering is at play? Whatever it is, it works, adding yet another layer to the intrigue.
Traditionally built headphones convey durability through heft and rigidity, but the YH-5000SE goes in the complete opposite direction. Its flexibility and lack of weight could very easily be mistaken for cheap build quality. But then you realize that every component is securely fixed in place. No rattle, no play. Just structural integrity so assured that it feels like a secret. And that’s the way it really is: strength isn’t worn like armor, it’s woven into the DNA. You, as a listener, are rewarded with the luxury of not bearing all that weight on your head. At only 50 g per driver unit, it’s impressive that the total weight of the headphone is 320 g. To put the sheer weight achievement in perspective: it’s the lightest “planar-magnetic” headphone in its class [by nearly a whopping 100 g]and is otherwise only second to Dan Clark Audio’s 290 g Ether 2. This headphone challenges the hardwired definition of a well-built headphone.
Technical Details
YH-5000SE is an open-back planar-magnetic headphone with a 50 mm Orthodynamic™ driver. For decades, this term has been used interchangeably with planar-magnetic, so, I decided to ask Yamaha for its official definition. An Orthodynamic driver is a planar-magnetic driver that has: a perfectly round shape, a conductive track pattern in a circular spiral, and a concentric circle corrugation. It was never an embellished marketing term, as some believed, but a definition of the driver’s physical design.
Ryo Hadano (acoustic design) and Chikara Kobayashi (mechanical and housing design) worked on the engineering for six years. Needless to say, these are engineered to oblivion.
The driver unit is made up of the housing, the magnets, the micro-perforation air dampers, and the driver. The inner-facing half of the housing has a trefoil section with acoustic felt inside it. Housing aside, the driver is perfectly symmetrical. For magnets, a double-sided magnet array is used, comprised of two separate pieces: a circle at the center, and a ring around it. The dampers are made of stainless steel (painted black to match the rest of the design). The driver features a corrugated ultra-thin film diaphragm with etched conductive traces. They’re dual-sided and arranged in concentric and radial patterns. The reason for using them on both sides is to increase the driving force of the diaphragm.
It’s so easy to skim over all these components and list them, but every single one is acoustically optimized to its core. For example, the goal for the driver was to achieve the smoothest piston movement with the least deformation. Using a corrugated diaphragm meant that each corrugation directly translated to a new sound reflection point. With as many corrugations as the diaphragm has, you can imagine just how much work and consideration was required to get it to perform as intended. Also, the diaphragm is sandwiched so closely between the dampers, that any contact between the two would be audible, hence such a heavy focus on deformation. This was directly addressed by abandoning the original center fixation of the diaphragm, allowing the re-engineered Orthodynamic driver to achieve “uninhibited movement of the entire film” and a lower resonance frequency.
The driver baffle was treated with the same level of attention. The primary concerns here were internal volume and air pressure. The latter had to be kept low due to the delicate nature of the diaphragm. Yamaha’s solution was to make two large cutouts in the baffle and cover them with porous solid filters, marketed as “rolled plain Dutch weave stainless steel filters”. It sure is a mouthful, but that’s its physical description: “rolled” describes the processing method of stainless steel, and “plain Dutch weave” describes the type of weave used. The thickness of its strands is roughly 0.1 mm. This filter allows a controlled amount of air to escape. If you look at these filters, you will notice small squares of acoustic tape placed at the middle of each one. This tape is described to enhance the resolution of vocals. For this next one, you’ll have to get close up, but at the front of the baffle, you will notice two vertically placed acoustic tapes. These are also cutouts in the housing, and their purpose is described to adjust the mid-range resolution and sense of sound expansion.
Just look at the stepless slider patent. Not only was it engineered for functionality, but also for longevity. Should it be necessary to replace any part, it’s designed to be cost-effective and straightforward. And that’s not my interpretation of it, it’s explicitly stated in the patent!
Manufacturing
Never mind a finished product—getting this headphone from a concept to a working prototype was all but straightforward. I would say that the greatest challenges were faced on the manufacturing floor, but Hadano repeated in multiple interviews that everything about this headphone was a challenge. The team would overcome one only to be met with another. A thousand prototypes were made of the driver diaphragm alone. The complexity of the diaphragm largely contributed to such a long development time, and also, manufacturing it was hell. It’s so delicate that it kept severely deforming when taken out of the mold. Eventually, a solution was found, but the technique was kept as a top secret within the company. Many of the components were developed from scratch, involving a similar amount of effort to pull off. Other than the diaphragm, the stainless steel filters were also tested with several patterns before settling on the final one. The thickness of the strands is a mere 0.1 mm, and because the filter is slightly curved, it was also—you guessed it—a challenge.
The total cost of the YH-5000SE project is speculated to be in the millions of dollars. I quote Yamaha, “Everything was newly prepared for this model.” Molding machines, inspection machines, assembly environment, manufacturing equipment, jigs,
everything. What wasn’t done in-house was outsourced in Japan, but given that the production standards were so high, many factories turned Yamaha down. The number one manufacturing concern for these headphones was stable production, so it was a great challenge to findmanufacturing partners that could meet this demand. Any elements that could adversely affect product quality had to be eliminated.
While there is no footage of the manufacturing process, there is a video of YH-5000SE’s assembly. A mounting sense of déjà vu crept in as the video unfolded, and then it hit me—Lexus LFA. I couldn’t believe it, these flagship headphones share a virtually identical assembly process with Toyota’s legendary 1LR-GUE engine. Little did you know, this engine is assembled by Yamaha Motor! Not only that, Yamaha Motor was responsible for designing a “100% quality level (no defective parts)” manufacturing system for this engine, and that also included the assembly. Every step is documented—after a single bolt is tightened, takumi stops to document it—something you can also see in YH-5000SE’s assembly. You be the judge:
YH-5000SE assembly,
1LR-GUE assembly.
Comfort
Unbeknown to many, Yamaha’s R&D department houses the Sensitivity Measurement Group, which is a specialized team dedicated to scientific affective evaluation. Led by Yasuaki Takano, their approach combines rigorous measurements with data analysis, with the consumer at the center of every decision. For the YH-5000SE, the group prioritized minimal weight and maximum ergonomics.
Take the ear-pads, which underwent refinement through feedback from nearly 100 evaluators and over 60 prototypes. Rather than simply tallying votes, the team pinpointed their target user group, carefully considering their preferences before settling on the two final options. Both ear-pads share a circular shape with an oval opening, an angled design (thickest at the rear), and the proprietary twist-lock mechanism for easy attachment, but diverge in materials. The stock pair comes with a sheepskin leather face, breathable mesh lining, and perforated PU leather outer, while the second employs Ultrasuede®—a synthetic ultra-microfiber invented in the ‘70s by Miyoshi Okamoto of Toray Industries. Fun fact: he is also responsible for the more famous Alcantara®. Both materials were revolutionary for their time, and Ultrasuede’s expiration in 1990 led to affordable global imitations. Butter-soft, cozy, and more durable than genuine suede, it was the perfect choice not just for the ear-pads but also for the lining of the headstrap.
The headstrap itself is wide, well-cushioned, and wrapped with PU leather. Height is adjusted with a stepless sliding mechanism, whose design is intended for the headstrap to rest on your head rather than be tensioned. Adjustments are best made while wearing the headphones, then gently lifting them to relieve any strain. If you aren’t doing any hardcore headbanging, they stay put.
Takano used precision measurement instruments to ensure equal pressure on top of the head and the side of the face, a claim I can confirm firsthand! This obsession with pressure distribution is also evident in the design of the headphones: the curvature and angled placement of the center-piece. This extends to the yoke’s 90˚ horizontal articulation, which adapts to all heads while gently discouraging careless handling, and the ear-cups, which have sufficient tilt.
Known for its strong emphasis on subjective experience, Yamaha didn’t disappoint. No corner was overlooked, resulting in a headphone that ranks among the best of the best when it comes to comfort. It would’ve been a tragedy not to take full advantage of its weight!
Sound
The YH-5000SE is an anomaly. After six months, I still can’t define it. I don’t know what this headphone is. That’s about the craziest thing I ever said in my career! It’s a shapeshifting alien that defies conventional tuning, completely. One alteration in the chain can make its sound jump from one polar end to the other. The market’s reception has mirrored its multifaceted nature: some swear by its unmatched brilliance, hailing it as the best headphone they’ve ever experienced, while others dismiss it as fatally flawed. These divided opinions reveal the crux of the misunderstanding: thinking that this headphone has a fixed sound profile. Other headphones maintain a recognizable character across different systems. Yes, changes in the chain can alter it to a degree, but the core sound always remains present. Prepare for a humble wake-up call with the YH-5000SE, because we’re not talking about a degree of change but a complete transformation. The level of variation in sound you think is possible is nothing compared to the swings between extremes of this headphone. It’s a question how many are even aware of its volatility, and that’s concerning. There’s a good chance that those who hated its sound had it in a system that simply did not work in its favor. Before you rule me out as a shill, I kindly ask you to give me the benefit of the doubt. I am not dismissing people’s reception of these, positive, negative, or anything in between. My goal is to reach a universal understanding, and hopefully allow more people to enjoy these headphones. Look, I’ve experienced both versions of this headphone; the one people like and the one people dislike.
Yamaha presented us with a headphone so radically different that it was getting labeled a mistake. A specimen that the market couldn’t identify at the time of its release. The unwritten industry rules state that a headphone, as a consumer product, should be predictable, consistent, and easily digestible for the mass market—the YH-5000SE is a middle finger to each one. It’s more accurate to say it was designed to have its own sound than to say it was designed to defy convention. Let’s address the elephant in the room, the Harman target. Honestly, it frustrates me to see that we as a community allowed the industry to reach a state where any headphone that doesn’t conform to the Harman target gets misconceived as flawed. Please don’t get me wrong, I understand its place as an industry standard, but what’s up with crucifying sound profiles that aim for something else? The idea of all headphones aiming for the same sound has always been profoundly depressing to me. I wonder how many people even understand what the Harman Target is and how it was created. But we’re past the questioning phase, we’ve reached a point of no return. The comments I’ve seen made toward Yamaha and YH-5000SE can only be described as abominable. They ranged from shameless insults to claiming inexperienced engineers created the tuning. To entertain such a theory is to ignore logic entirely—asinine in its disregard of the country these headphones are from, the factory they are made in, and the company that makes them. Please don’t take that out of context! This is a flagship “Made in Japan” headphone from Yamaha, marking the company’s return to a technology it abandoned 33 years ago. It comes from the same Yamaha that handled the acoustic design of a car engine. Remember Lexus LFA’s 1LR-GUE engine I mentioned earlier? That engine is regarded as one of the best-sounding engines of all time, and Yamaha is behind its sound.
So, where does the fallacy that the YH-5000SE is a bad-sounding headphone stem from? Measurements, for the most part. Instead of attacking people and controversial figures responsible for real damage to our industry, I will attack the limitations of headphone measurements. Let’s narrow it down to frequency response graphs. What does a headphone frequency response even tell you? Its sound, right? Not quite. Over the years, we have been fed with educational content about learning how to read such measurement graphs, yet these guides conveniently omit to acknowledge that the measurements are made using professional-grade equipment. The truth is, industry headphone measurements are fundamentally limited by their reliance on what’s essentially idealized laboratory equipment. How many reviewers or measurement databases have their measurement system analysis published? Lack of transparency aside, an offense of even greater severity is to present these frequency response graphs as a
de facto representation of what a headphone sounds like. For one, without the measurement rig disclosed, consumers can’t accurately extrapolate these measurements to their own use cases. For two, even if disclosed, this data would only allow for objective comparisons between headphones when isolated from gear variables (assuming the measurement system remains controlled). For three, no consumer equipment matches the performance of the industry-grade equipment used during the measurements. Does this render all headphone frequency response graphs useless to the consumer? Useless would be a harsh term to use, but let’s say their validity relies on the consumers’ blind assumption that gear variations won’t cause the headphone’s performance to deviate far from the measured one. Last I checked, the absence of assumption was a violation of foundational scientific principles. If we’re going to talk about science, at least make sure it’s actual science.
We are at a time where listening is done with eyes instead of ears. The worst of all is that this was normalized by people who display severe signs of the Danning-Kruger effect, followed by confirmation bias and backfire effect. Pseudoscientists who present themselves as objectivists. Preaching flawed and limited representation of data as gospel while burying the caveats. It’s toxic and it fuels this absurd war in our industry. The only way we as an industry can move forward is if we unite as a community, understand the limitations and flaws of subjective experience, and do the same for measurements. We don’t need to complicate things so much, we just have to remain open-minded and recognize things for what they are. I think measurements should start coming with disclaimers. It’s standard practice for reviews, so I don’t see a reason why it hasn’t been standardized for measurement data. A map without a scale and a legend can neither be trusted for its accuracy nor relied upon for navigation.
I apologize for opening Pandora’s box, but some things had to be addressed. I care way too much about this industry to let this negligence slide. It’s an important topic, and it shouldn’t be a taboo.
The Setup
YH-5000SE w/leather ear-pads & stock 4.4mm balanced cable
Amplifier: Yamaha HA-L7A
Power Cable: VIABLUE X-60
Interconnect Cable: VIABLUE NF-S1 T6 RCA
Interconnect Adaptor Cable: custom order by SOMMER CABLE
Feet: VIABLUE TRI Spikes
Sources: iBasso DX320MAX Ti (referred to as the first option), iBasso DX340 (referred to as the second option)
Lows
Despite having such an open physical design, the YH-5000SE stands its ground and delivers a remarkable bass performance. I’m particularly impressed with its reproduction of acoustic instruments. They have that authentic acoustic quality to them. I’ve referred to this as “sound texture” in the past, and it’s something indicative of TOTL performance. This is that extra dimension of sound that one seeks to experience that last 1% that audiophiles chase. Honestly, I was blown away by hearing the slightest changes in air pressure picked up by the microphone. The kind of nuance that tingles your ears. A finger sliding on a string, the decay of harmonic overtones, shuffling in the background, these types of things. The overall ambiance is carried over, the movement. It’s more so feeling this nuance than hearing it, and it captures that lifelike quality of sound. Revisiting tracks that you’ve been listening to your whole life only to discover a newfound depth in them is quite the experience, to say the least.
It’s impossible not to attribute this performance to the Orthodynamic driver design. Put on a track with intense transitions and it will show you how smooth it is, or put on some aggressive fast-paced drums and it will show you its agility. Sudden, explosive bass attacks? That’s YH-5000SE’s home territory. It’s a dynamics monster. Digital instruments are light work for this headphone. It’s the acoustic instruments that put it to the test. I am a fanatic for stringed acoustic instruments. A fundamental part of their timbre lies in the lower frequency range, so for a headphone to capture their complete complexity, it must reproduce those nuances in the lows. Yamaha’s know-how shows, as this is the most natural strings ever sounded through headphones. Hearing the sinewy, fibrous texture of strings is to die for! I also listen to a lot of percussion-heavy genres like rock, alternative rock, metal, and post-metal. In some drumming is more intense than others, but for the most part, it’s present throughout the whole track. I was amazed by YH-5000SE’s ability to produce intense drumming with such definition and speed. This is the second time that the drum’s physical tension of the drumhead is audibly replicated through a headphone. It’s this physical characteristic of instruments that fascinates me the most, even though the speed is the highlight.
Neither the sub-bass nor the mid-bass are heavily pushed forward. However, both can reach an impressive level of intensity. I stumbled upon some people saying that the YH-5000SE is lacking in sub-bass, but having listened to multiple cinema-featured movie OSTs myself, I’m confused by this claim. There was one track for which I wrote a note that read “scared the living crap out of me”, and I listened to this track three times in one day—each time the track scared the living crap out of me. It’s convincing, that’s the thing about it. When it comes to sub-bass, it’s full, it’s dense, it rumbles. As expected, mid-bassexcels in technicalities. From my judgment, bass as a whole is far from being lacking, but it also doesn’t reach a point where it’s overwhelming.
When changing out the source, I noticed a notable difference in the transient speed and bass definition. Transient speed can range from softer, analog-like to analytical. Bass definition is very similar, it ranges from less defined and softer to more defined and sharper. Since the definition also affects the perceived size, the former sounds bigger, and the latter sounds smaller but more precise.
Mids
My experience with the YH-5000SE out of the box was a little scary. Playing some instrumental tracks was enough to make me fall in love with it, as they sounded really good, but as soon as I put on some vocal tracks, I realized there was a problem. They were too hot and peaky, just as some described the mids to be. Well, that motivated me to start pairing it with different gear. First DAP, second DAP, an amplifier, another amplifier, and another amplifier—same. The tuning fork company messing up the tuning? Impossible! That couldn’t be this headphone’s true sound, and I refused to accept it as such. I put it aside and started thinking about how I could make the most of the gear I had with me. The only remaining option was to use my DAPs as sources with the Yamaha HA-L7A headphone amplifier. The problem? I neither had an adaptor to use my existing RCA interconnect cables nor a proprietary 3.5 mm>RCA interconnect cable that I could directly plug into the DAPs. Since I wanted to use my RCA cables, I searched for an adaptor. Well, as it turns out, I would’ve been better off finding blinker fluid, because there wasn’t a single high-end option available. So, I reached out to a leader in the professional audio cabling sector, SOMMER CABLE. The French mastermind behind their cables, Miguet Pascal, lent me a patient ear and generously crafted a custom adaptor cable for me. When it finally arrived, I immediately connected my DAP to the amplifier and started listening. Mind you, I haven’t listened to the headphones in the meanwhile, so there was no brain burn-in at play, and especially no physical break-in of the driver. I immediately noticed a difference, but to make sure what I was hearing was indeed true, I listened to my previous pairings. The YH-5000SE retained its original character but got rid of the sharpness that was so problematic at first. I thought that’s the most I’d extract out of this headphone—until I connected my second DAP. I kid you not, I was utterly flabbergasted. It turned it into a completely different headphone.
The mids can range from really open, airy to congested, and dense. As far as vocals are concerned, on one DAP they’re more distant and hollow, while on the other, they’re forward and very natural. The difference in tonality is drastic! With that second DAP, I was also able to almost fully eliminate the peaks that scared so many off. To get the slightest hint of these peaks to come through, I had to push the volume some 30%–40% past my usual listening level. And even in that case, all these peaks were barely more forward “s”, “t”, and “sh” sounds in vocals. They were nowhere near sibilance, brilliance, or piercing levels. I just wanted to clear that up. With the first DAP, at normal listening levels, peaks can come through in some vocals. They aren’t as subtle as on the other DAP, but they’re also not hot. When I wanted to listen to vocal-focused music, I used the second DAP.
I had the choice of enjoying a more familiar mids presentation or going for a very unique mids presentation. That authentic character that you can extract from it makes for a one-of-a-kind listening experience, and it’s the sound I prefer for instruments. But what about you? If you are only used to one sound profile, your ears will naturally be opposed to anything very different. YH-5000SE’s unique sound profile is an acquired taste. To appreciate it, you must be open to new flavors. I don’t have the problem of enjoying vastly different-sounding headphones, and that’s because I try to explore sound and find joy in it. That’s not to say that I force finding joy. That would be something different, something I consider dishonest.
No headphones in my collection can replace the YH-5000SE, so I know Yamaha was successful in creating a flagship that has its own, original sound.
Highs
Treble is the reason I’ve become inseparable from these headphones. Many already repeated the same words, “This is the most resolving headphone I’ve ever listened to,” and I joined them. At its core, it’s bright. It’s a trait that persisted across all my pairings. I am not saying that it can’t sound warm, but that I didn’t attain that quality in any of my setups. Not having any tubes on me might partially explain that. Regardless, I am a treblehead, so it fits my preference anyway. Being one, I can only describe the treble response as heavenly. It has a crystal-clear quality and is consistent across every track. No, it does not cut through the mix. Snares, hi-hats, cymbals, guitars, violins, you name it, it all comes to life thanks to the extended highs. You can hear the snappy and explosive speed of the driver in elements like snares and cymbals. Despite such rich treble quantity, its level of control is commendable. I failed to push it over into glare land, even at extremes.
Of the three frequency ranges, treble is dearest to my heart. Conversely, my ears are hypersensitive to high frequencies, making me brutally intolerable of poorly tuned treble. You’d think this would drive me toward warm signatures, but no. Treble is my perverse pleasure. I long for sparkle that tingles my ears, for notes that send shivers down my spine. That’s the itch I need scratched to emotionally bond with sound. Without it, music feels like a conversation through glass.
The treble level can range from sparkle to shimmer. Shimmer is the first tier below sparkle, so there isn’t much you’re missing out on. One is analytical and the other is less analytical. For treble lovers like myself, it’s a win-win situation.
Soundstage, Imaging, and Separation
A driver baffle as large as YH-5000SE’s is a luxury many can only dream of, but square footage alone doesn’t guarantee a grand soundstage. That depends on how effectively all that acoustic real estate is utilized. After tonality, spatial presentation is the most affected by gear changes. The soundstage can range from exceptionally open and airy to very intimate and dense. In the first configuration, it’s spacious and large in a very natural way; it reaches a colossal width without that artificial quality that some headphones suffer from. Imaging remains accurate, but interestingly, it’s more distinct on the second DAP, especially when it comes to vertical positioning. The same extends to separation, where it’s also noticeably clearer on the second DAP.
It comes down to what sound you’re after: airy and open or cinematic and immersive.
Conclusion
Yamaha dared to dream—something that’s become vanishingly rare in our industry. It knowingly decided not to go for the most preferred sound profile, even though it would’ve been the most logical thing to do from a business perspective. Authenticity was prioritized over mainstream appeal because that wasn’t its target audience to begin with. Did anyone seriously think that Yamaha, an industry veteran, would make its return just to give us some generic sugar? Sure, it would’ve pleased everyone’s taste buds, but that wasn’t and isn’t its style. Instead, a very dedicated team of people worked together to create a complex flavor. Not for rebellion’s sake, but to prove sound could mean
something again.
This flavor, however, isn’t something you taste effortlessly. Yes, you can taste it by itself, but is that what you are going to base your opinion on? Can you even say you tasted it when it gets so drastically altered by the utensils you eat it with, what you pair it with, and even what you eat it out of? It’s no living being, so it sees no price tag. You can eat it with a 24K gold spoon, it holds no meaning. As far as I’m concerned, it could have the richest flavor when eaten off a cotton shirt! That will either humble you or expose your elitism. The journey to understand this flavor’s complexity is arduous, requiring patience, curiosity, and a willingness to keep experimenting without giving up. If you want to get it to match your preference, you better get to cooking. You are the chef!
YH-5000SE’s sound variability is its philosophy, it’s at the core of what makes it so special. To assume otherwise is to misunderstand the essence of expression. The same applies to its unique tuning. I see it as an instrument in the purest sense: you can play it, and sound will come out, but that doesn’t mean you played it. It comes with no manual or instructions on how to play it correctly. We don’t have Isawa Shūji to teach us the instrument’s language, so we have to figure it out on our own. Imagine if the public labeled the organ as a bad instrument based on Torakusu’s un-tuned version. Here, you are the tuner. This headphone punishes plug-and-play expectations. You might strike luck on your first pairing and achieve what I did, but that’s not the point. The moment you accept its sound variability as an inherent quality is the starting point of understanding this headphone. From that point onward, it’s all about how badly you want to hear it.
I recommend everyone to give this headphone a listen. Ideally in the comfort of your home, but at the very least in a quiet, isolated environment. If you don’t hear what you’re looking for, document your entire chain, and try again. Keep tweaking until it sings. There’s no embarrassment in discovering it sounds better on a cheaper chain. At the end of the day, I understand that some of you don’t have the patience nor can justify doing all this work for a flagship headphone. The only way to find out whether you like it is to experience it firsthand.
If you are already deep into this hobby and own a big collection of audio gear, or you have a habit of frequently switching it out, you’ll get to hear many YH-5000SEs. I got a taste of its greatness after hearing just two of its voices, and that’s just a glimpse into what this headphone is truly capable of. Each setup reveals another voice. How many are there? We don’t know. We’ll only get closer to mapping its complete range by experimenting relentlessly and sharing our observations.
Which YH-5000SE did you listen to?
You made all this information so easy to read =)